Contact:
Madeline Braun or Zach Benson
(608) 266-5810
(MADISON) –Yesterday, the Assembly passed a bill that went through the Senate last week. The bill provides more power to DPI to hold private schools who accept state vouchers accountable. Today, State Superintendent Tony Evers has called on Governor Walker to sign Senate bill 293, which is a product of months of collaborative and negotiated work between DPI and Wisconsin School Choice.
Creating the 30 points in this bill was no easy feat as the organizations have been in contention for nearly thirty years. Both houses voted for the bill’s common sense reforms-passing the Senate 28-5 and the Assembly 67-30.
Taylor states she has long fought for needed background checks and school closure procedures to better regulate schools. The bill does many things including;
-Requiring that all schools in the choice program perform background checks, meaning if somebody has a background that prevents them from being able to have teaching license or they are a threat to safety, then they cannot teach
-Moving more money to public schools
-Requiring that schools have a financial report and pay for auditing costs
-Removing a school from the program if it intentionally or negligibly misrepresents information, ie commit fraud, by failing to provide financial information or do background checks
-Requiring schools to have a surety bond of at least 25% of what they are trying to create
-and more
Following its passage, Taylor said the following about the bill:
“I’m incredibly disappointed that legislators voted against this bill and did not recognize the importance of giving DPI more power to hold private schools accountable. Clearly what’s best for Wisconsin and our children wasn’t their priority.”
